AM Alert: “Pathway to 2050” gathers renewables crowd

In this Jan. 24, 2015 photo, German scientist Andreas Beck writes down notes in Robert Island, in the South Shetland Islands archipelago, Antarctica. The melting of Antarctic glaciers as a consequence of global warming is concerning scientists.
Natacha Pisarenko
AP

In this Jan. 24, 2015 photo, German scientist Andreas Beck writes down notes in Robert Island, in the South Shetland Islands archipelago, Antarctica. The melting of Antarctic glaciers as a consequence of global warming is concerning scientists.
Natacha Pisarenko
AP

Politicians and representatives of energy industry businesses will meet Thursday at “Pathway to 2050,” a conference on renewable energy and meeting goals for carbon reduction.

Speakers include Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, chair of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee and Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications.

State policy sets the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below their 1990 levels by 2050.

FINES AND ENFORCEMENT: A Fair Political Practices Commission investigation accuses Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, of having laundered money for the unsuccessful Assembly campaign of Bob Williams through the Tehama County Republican Committee, resulting in over-the-limit contributions. The commission’s investigation also says Nielsen illegally received tickets to a basketball game from the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, a gift arranged by the lobbying firm Sloat Higgins Jensen & Associates.

Sign Up and Save

The total fine for that case is $23,000 and will be considered at a commission meeting today. Commission documents say Nielsen participated in the investigation “in good faith.”

DEVELOPMENTAL SAGA: Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, along with other state and federal officials, is hosting a town hall on the closure of the Sonoma Developmental Center. The center houses hundreds of people who are developmentally disabled, and the Department of Developmental Services is proceeding with plans to close it.